At the top of the government watch list: Giggles the baby deer. (Photo credit: WISN)

Two weeks ago a small army of agents showed up at the Society of St. Francis, a no-kill animal shelter in Kenosha, Wisconsin. While it appeared as if the fully armed agents were ready to bust a small drug operation, it turns out that they conducted the raid to capture and euthanize a 2-week-old baby deer.

“It was like a SWAT team. Nine DNR agents and four deputy sheriffs, and they were all armed to the teeth,” shelter employee Ray Schulze told a local news station.

Schulze explained that the fawn had been brought to the shelter, which is just miles from the Illinois border, by a family who thought that the animal had been abandoned by its mother. The small deer, still adorned with white spots, was named “Giggles” because, “When it made a little noise, it sounded like it was laughing,” Schulze said.

Giggles was due to be taken to a wildlife animal refuge the day following the shelter raid, but got carried away from the no-kill shelter in a body bag instead.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources received two anonymous phone calls saying that the shelter was harboring a baby deer – which is illegal in the state of Wisconsin. State law does not allow the possession of wildlife without a state-issued permit. However, the law does have one exception: a small 24-hour window “to remove or transport the wild animal from one location to a more appropriate location.”

Apparently, the shelter had possession of the deer for more than 24 hours, thus making its presence illegal, providing cause for full-out surveillance of the shelter and subsequent raid and euthanizing of the 2-week-old baby deer.

A search warrant was obtained after the game warden prepared an affidavit, which included aerial photos of the shelter and accounts of surveillance missions in which agents described being able to see, from the cover of a nearby wooded area, the baby deer going in and out of the barn.

And when agents showed up at the shelter, “I was thinking in my mind they were going to take the deer and take it to a wildlife shelter,” Schulze explained. “And here they come carrying the baby deer over their shoulder. She was in a body bag.” Schulze continued to describe the ordeal, “I said, ‘Why did you do that?’ He said, ‘That’s our policy,’ and I said, ‘That’s one hell of a policy.’”

DNR Supervisor Jennifer Niemeyer and the agents deny that Giggles was killed at the shelter. They maintain that the deer was merely tranquilized and euthanized off-site.

Niemeyer also explained to a local reporter that they killed the deer for both the safety of the animal and other wildlife, as well as area residents, citing the fawn’s potential for disease or other dangers.

“These are always very difficult situations for both parties involved,” she said. “And we are empathetic to the fact of what happened because we know in our heart of hearts they tried to do the right thing.”

Niemeyer then likens the caring of the small animal to an illegal drug operation when a local investigative reporter questioned their use of resources. “Could you have made a phone call before showing up, I mean, that’s a lot of resources,” the reporter asked.

“If a sheriff’s department is going in to do a search warrant on a drug bust, they don’t call them and ask them to voluntarily surrender their marijuana or whatever drug that they have before they show up,” Niemeyer said.

Shelter President Cindy Schultz said she plans to sue the DNR and also questioned the use of taxpayer money on such an operation. “They went way over the top for a little tiny baby deer,” she said.

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Fear, Intimidation, and Aggressive force are not the responses of a officer of the peace. These tactics were last seen on people with swastikas on their black uniforms. The police are starting to act and look more like THOSE people every day. Military Tactics ARE NOT suitable for all situations. The monumental waste of resources and money was a nice touch too.

Michael Cory : I understand his use of harsh words. When citizens see a great injustice committed by government what else can they do? Government stupidity and corruption at work in my opinion. It is clear that they will make any operation to steal tax payer money for operations and overtime. All that was needed was one person to visit the facility and extend an extra day or two for them to comply; NOT SEND OUT A F___ING GOVERNMENT EXECUTION SQUAD. Are we the people next on the list?

“Could you have made a phone call before showing up, I mean, that’s a lot of resources,” the reporter asked.

“If a sheriff’s department is going in to do a search warrant on a drug bust, they don’t call them and ask them to voluntarily surrender their marijuana or whatever drug that they have before they show up,”.

Um... You weren't raiding a drug den, MORON! It's was an animal shelter. The whole thing could've been fixed with a phone call. I'm fairly confident that the fawn could have been transported later that day or the next without the planet falling off it's axis.

As a former cop, I get pretty chafed when I read all the knee-jerk, emotional responses from the "F*** the POlice" crowd whenever there's some perceived over-the-top police response because I know that there is another side of the story not being told. I've been there and know how the media likes to make the police look. That said, I cannot for the life of me figure out how this situation justified anything like this. I have to say that with all the gov't monitoring, rumors of drone use, automatic license plate scanners, traffic cams, police check points, SWAT raids over baby deer possessions, etc., this country doesn't look much like the one I grew up in. New Zealand is looking better and better all the time.

As a former cop, what did you do to try and stop things like this? I'll bet nothing. You're probably like the rest of the steroid-freak cops out there. "Oh cool! We're getting ARs! Let's go get that baby deer from the shelter! Yeah! And we haven't deployed the SWAT truck in a while. Yeah! Get 'em boys! Pew! Pew! Pew!!!"

Michael, you've done nothing but make yourself out to be an ass. Your comment is totally unfounded. I'm guessing you don't know Mark Clay from Adam. I'm also willing to guess every contact you've had with the police was bad and most likely due to your attitude. You get what you give. Don't make assumption about people you don't know, have never met.

Mr. Clay I understand where you are coming from and respect that due to the media can and has exaggerated more then once but I would say this is probably pretty close to what happened all in the name of preserving a outdated law though I will admit the media and those people could of expanded it from a few Sheriffs and a Game Warden to make it sound more dramatic then it really was but the point still being some of the comments from those in charge were just plain dumb. Don''t go to New Zealand if you are overweight, they have problems with overweight people and don't want them there.

I am sure police have their days were nobody would want your job. But Anyone who reads this with out the "lets stick together because we are cops attitude' can see this was not in the best interest of the animal. And on another note, regardless of the current law, The public has a right to express how outrageous they think this is, and is usually the first steps in getting laws passed or changed. The very idea that the hundreds of taxpayer dollars went to snuff out a 2 week old fawn in this day of financial shortages could easily be looked at as a violation of public trust. The fact that many law enforcement types stick up for each other, even when they are wrong, is one reason why they exhibit the response and behavior that chafes you. There is nothing better than a good cop and there is nothing worse than a bad one. I am sure you have worked with both.

The Police make themselves look bad, I took criminal justice classes and more than half the Idiots in my cases that wanted to be cops were neurotic mental cases! This and so many of these cases these days prove that every cop hired should have a full and through mental evaluation. They kill people at the wrong addresses and elderly people in their own yards. I'd fire the whole dammed force and the chief. Oh I thought I was reaching for my taser, if you can't tell the difference between a taser and a Glock your an IDIOT! Stop all the fricken militarized cowboy crap, take their patrol cars away and put
them back on foot.

Aerial surveillance, 13 officers, and a warrant from a judge? I would like to see an itemized spread sheet of exactly how much this cost. This is the kind of waste that proves it's time to remove the head of the DNR from her position and charge her with misallocation of funds.

So an agency that is supposed to be managing wildlife for the benefit of the wildlife, and the environment, and the residents of the state, apparently follows a logic line such as this: "Hey! Someone's violating wildlife management rules! We'll show them! We'll send in a goon squad and kill the wildlife!" Unfathomable stupidity and heartlessness. Total disregard for any modicum of common sense. Ronald Reagan had it right: "Government isn't the solution to our problem, Government IS the problem."

Common sense being that an animal suceptible to illness from domestic animals can transfer a diesease to other wildlife...Great logic Sir. This is a part of wildlife management stopping dieseases that can kill entire populations because of one animal

Kyle Martinez the point is they wasted all that money on this when they cold have gone and got the deer tested it for those illnesses and then determined if it should have been put down or not, instead of hey lets assume its chuck full of them and kill it then bitch about our wildlife disappearing

And now you watch this shelter will have all kinds of problems going forward, saying their permits are bad, probably a few Audits, until they shut them down. how dare you back talk the government. how dare you question THEIR authority. And the DNR that compared warrants for a drug bust and a baby deer should be fired for making such an outrageous comparison. Seriously, how about a small, just a tiny amount of common sense. wow

It would have saved a ton of money and resources if the "rescuers" had simply left the fawn in the woods and let the coyotes have it. Survival of the fittest and the food chain, you know. However, any hunter will tell you the Mother Doe probably did not abandon the fawn and was probably nearby when ignorant people interfered with nature. Mothers in nature do not abandon their offspring.

It would have saved a lot of money and grief if they had just gotten the fawn to where it could be checked out and released back to its environment when it was old enough to fend for itself. This guy was willing to do so for free!!

Richard Schmidt , you miss the point. Move on down the road if you don't know how to properly respond. IF you are sure the fawn is orphaned, such as mother being run over by car, call the game warden or sheriff. They will take care of it. The Animal Shelter was a dumb idea.

Well, yes and no - it depends upon facts we don't know.... If the fawn looked healthy, then yes, absolutely you are right. If the fawn was obviously malnourished, then it's momma was either hit by car or *something*.

Robert Moody Yep, only a small step up to killing Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, their children, their parents, and anybody else they can round up that doesn't fit the Liberal Concept of Amerika.

My problem with this is they saw the fawn able to leave the barn whenever it wanted.So it was not being "kept", it was free to go whenever it wanted. This stinks of a police state imposing its will on the innocent. The Governor should FIRE all those that were involved.

Maybe the governor should be FIRED! Oh, and Michael, I would like to know what you do for a living. Show some respect for the guys that put their lives on the line each and every day. They've earned it! Thanks for your service Mark Clay!

Way to go Wisconsin. I had high hopes for you. But seriously, do the deputies have an idea of what they're about to do before they do it? If they warrant and they were told to execute the plan, I can understand that. They're going in kinda blind. But if they knew they were going after a fawn at an animal shelter, that's a dang phone call. Blows my mind.

let me get this one statement straight. they killed the animal for the safety of the animal? did they really say that lol? if they had to put it down so be it, I agree a couple of guys in a truck probably could of handled it but they killed it for its own safety...... thanks guys tell you what don't worry about my safety. I'm good really.

This is worse than bad. What has happened to this great Nation? To direct aerial surveillance, multi-jurisdictional command planning and resources, in secret to take control of a fawn? What has happened to this once Great Nation?

what the f%ck is wrong with these a$$holes mayby 100 000 dollars was spent wow need to be sued and heads need to be chopped at the very top of this messed up chain the the and the judge who signed this warrent should be held accountable for the peoples money that was squandered.

A lot of these goons are juicers and adrenaline junkies. It's the thrill of the bust that gets their rocks off. Serving the public, constitutional rights, safety of citizens, that stuff is irrelevant to them. They just want to kick some ass.

Someone needs to be unemployed and jailed. Had the people at the shelter killed the deer, they would have surely been arrested. What's the difference who kills it? Makes me want to go to Wisconsin and kick some bureaucrat's ass! Hey, Bureaucrat! Name yourself! Who are you, BIG MAN! Killing a baby deer make you feel like a big man? I am old and fat and have heart issues, but I am willing to let you try and kick my ass! Emphasis on "try!"

Let address the issues one at a time here.
We have a swat raid on a animal shelter. How much did it cost for: the Game warden to watch from the woods, the helicopter fly over, the raid itself, and now the legal fee's incurred to justify these actions.
How many different resources were wasted on this exercise in intimidation. Does the local Police Department collectively have two brain cells that they can rub together. What you have here is a failure to access the problem and could have very easily lead to someone being injured or killed because a nonprofit did not fill out the proper paperwork in a timely manner.
Here's a few suggestions for the non profit. Ask for audit of funds incurred by all parties involved with this operation, every man hour, every gallon of gas, every doughnut. Then at a public hearing, go over every item line by line. Have a copy of the Police Blotter Report for this time period so the question can be asked " Was it more important to raid a nonprofit while all these other crimes were occurring.
When ever the Sheriff is in public, ask him "Is this a justified use of resources in this cash strapped economy. "
Remind the Sheriff that he has to answer to the voters over this.
Inform the Director of the Department of Fish and Game that his departments budget should be reviewed over this.
If the State and Local Governments have the resources for this raid, then there is a lot wasted funds that need to be eliminated from their agencies budgets that could be put to better use elsewhere.

Being retired LEO, this was BS! No reason to kill the fawn, just like DNR in California killed the baby mtn lions few weeks ago! See these game wardens really have no clue to anything. ALL DNR officers are want to be cops, so if they cannot shoot a person, they kill animals! They are all a sad lot..........yea New Zealand is looking better.

This is the STUPIDIST thing I've heard in YEARS!! Why the hell didn't they tale the deer to the shelter instead of killing it? What a damn WASTE of TAX PAYERS DOLLARS!! A SWAT TEAM TO KILL A DEER? That State is STUPID!!